Background checks for online dating: 6 services compared

A background check before a first date is a reasonable idea. It is also widely misunderstood. The sites that sell “background checks” to the public are people-search services. They are fast and cheap, and they can confirm that the name, age and city a match gave you belong to a real person. They are not the screened, legally regulated checks an employer or landlord runs, and a clean result proves less than it seems to.

This guide covers what to do for free first, then compares six paid services on the things that matter when you are about to hand over a card: what the price is, what is free, how billing renews and how to stop it.

What a dating background check can and can’t do

It can:

• confirm a name, approximate age and city line up
• surface other phone numbers, emails and past addresses linked to that name
• show public social and dating profiles tied to an email or username (on some sites)
• point you to court or criminal records worth checking at the source

It can’t:

• prove someone has no criminal record (only that none was found in the sources searched)
• confirm a record belongs to your match rather than someone with the same name
• tell you about relationships, intentions or behaviour

Five of the six services below state that they are not consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); for Whitepages, Couldn’t confirm. That status means their reports may not be used for employment, tenant screening, credit or insurance decisions. Checking a date is a personal use and falls outside those rules, but the records have not been verified the way a regulated report would be.

Red flag: a match who gives a first name only, avoids video calls and has photos that appear elsewhere online under a different name. A paid report can’t help much there; a reverse image search can. See free reverse image search tools.

Free checks to run first

Do these before paying anyone. Together they take about 15 minutes.

1. Reverse image search their photos. Stolen photos are the most common sign of a fake profile.
2. Search their full name in quotes with their city. Add their stated employer or university if they gave one.
3. Check the national sex offender registry. The US Department of Justice runs the National Sex Offender Public Website, which searches registries for all 50 states, DC, US territories and Indian Country by name. It is free.
4. Check the county court portal. Most US counties publish a free case search on the clerk of court’s website. Search the county your match says they live in.
5. Ask for a short video call. It is the single best check, and it is free.

If you only have a phone number, the guide to free people search sites explains what you can see without paying.

How these were chosen

Selection rule: each service had to publish its pricing or billing terms (on its own site or its App Store listing), describe its data or search types, and state its FCRA position where its open pages allow. Services built around face recognition were excluded. Nothing was tested or scored; the order below is alphabetical. All facts were checked 4 Nov 2026.

The six at a glance

BeenVerified

A New York company founded in 2007. One subscription covers people, phone, email, address, social media and vehicle searches. Its data page lists court and criminal records, property and vehicle records, directories and public social profiles as sources, and advises treating a report “as a starting point”.

• Price: $36.89 a month plus tax, or $71.94 every 3 months, each after a 7-day trial; 100 reports a month (pricing).
• FCRA notice: “BeenVerified is not a consumer reporting agency”; not for employment, household workers, tenant screening, education, credit or insurance.
• Cancel: My Account, live chat, email support@beenverified.com, or 1-844-823-2869. App purchases cancel through Apple or Google.

Suits: someone who wants one plan with a clearly published price.

Limit: US records only. Full detail in is BeenVerified legit and safe?

Intelius

A long-running people-search brand whose iPhone app is published by Pubrec, LLC. Its App Store description covers reverse phone lookups (name, possible images, location history and social profiles) and property searches.

• Price: App Store in-app purchases include Intelius Premier Subscription at $9.99 and $19.99, one background check at $19.99 and three at $49.99 (App Store prices). Couldn’t confirm web prices.
• FCRA notice (App Store description): does not provide “consumer reports” and is not a “consumer reporting agency”; not for credit, housing, insurance or employment decisions.
• Cancel: App Store subscriptions cancel in your Apple ID settings. Couldn’t confirm the web cancellation process.

Suits: someone who wants a single report rather than a subscription.

Limit: the least information published on open pages of the six.

Social Catfish

A Southern California company that describes itself as an “online investigation site” focused on whether the person you are talking to online is who they claim to be. It searches by name, email, phone, username and address. It is not available to people living in Europe.

• Price: its FAQ quotes two sets of figures. One says $6.48 (social search) or $6.87 (image search) for the first 3 days, then $28.94 or $28.97 every 30 days. Another says $5.73 for 5 days then $27.48 a month (unlimited social search), or $5.99 then $26.99 a month (unlimited image search). Expect the checkout to show the current one.
• FCRA notice: “does not provide consumer credit reports and is not a consumer credit reporting agency”.
• Cancel: Dashboard, Manage Account, Plan Info, Cancel; or call 844-422-8347. On refunds, the FAQ only says you “might” be able to get money back.

Suits: someone who mainly has an email, phone number or username to go on.

Limit: Social Catfish also sells a face-recognition search. This site does not recommend face-matching tools, which can identify strangers from a single photo; stick to its name, email, phone and username searches.

Spokeo

Running since 2006. Strong on contact details and on online accounts linked to an email or username; its help centre says those searches can surface public social and dating-site profiles.

• Free: city and state, age, relatives and locations (help).
• Price: Couldn’t confirm; shown at checkout. Consumer plans allow up to 100 searches a month.
• FCRA notice: “Spokeo is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).”
• Billing: trials convert unless cancelled before 11:59 PM Pacific on the last day; “all sales of all Spokeo premium content are final” (payment policy).
• Cancel: account page (Manage Account) or Customer Care on 1-888-271-9562. No cancellation fee.

Suits: checking which accounts sit behind an email or username.

Limit: no refunds once charged.

TruthFinder

Sells separate monthly plans by search type, which keeps the cost down if you only need one kind of lookup.

• Price (pricing page, updated 4 Nov 2026): People Search $29.99 a month, $70.99 for 3 months, $124.99 for 6 months; Reverse Phone $4.99 a month; Reverse Email $29.73 a month. All renew until cancelled.
• FCRA notice: “does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency”.
• Cancel: Subscriptions page in your account, or (855) 921-3711 on weekdays, 7am to 4pm Pacific. The current cycle is not refunded on cancellation (cancel help).

Suits: verifying a phone number cheaply.

Limit: promotional plans may bill at different rates than the standard list, per its own notice.

Whitepages

The long-standing US directory, included here as the low-cost option. Its homepage FAQ says free results may include names, current addresses and limited landline numbers, while Whitepages Premium adds mobile numbers, address history, background checks and property records.

• Price: App Store in-app purchases include a single Premium lookup at $1.99, Whitepages Premium at $4.99, Premium Annual at $29.99 and 100 Premium lookups a month at $22.99 (App Store prices). Couldn’t confirm web prices.
• FCRA notice: Couldn’t confirm from its open pages.
• Cancel: App Store purchases cancel through Apple. Couldn’t confirm the web process.

Suits: a one-off check where you just need to confirm a name and address match.

Limit: the free tier rarely includes mobile numbers.

A note on Garbo

Garbo, a nonprofit that offered searches focused on whether someone has a history of harm, has been acquired by the charity Chayn. Its site says it is shutting down operations in 2026 and its content is moving to Chayn. It no longer offers a search.

Consent, legality and common sense

• Search for safety, not leverage. Use what you find to decide whether to meet, not to confront someone or to dig into their family.
• Don’t screen for anything FCRA covers. If you are hiring a nanny or renting a room to someone you met online, you need a regulated consumer reporting agency instead.
• Verify anything serious at the source. A court record in a report should be checked on the county court’s own site before you treat it as fact.
• Remember it works both ways. If you can find a match’s address, they can find yours. The guide to removing your details from people-search sites covers the opt-out services.

For a closer look at the three biggest names side by side, see Spokeo vs BeenVerified vs TruthFinder.